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Richard Smith: Who Is The Falcons’ New DC?

By John Buhler

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There is a ton of excitement surrounding the new coaching regime at Flowery Branch for the Atlanta Falcons here in 2015.  Dan Quinn comes from the Pacific Northwest to the Southeast in his first head coaching gig.  When constructing his staff, Coach Quinn opted to bring with him many seasoned coaches that have plenty of experience with player development at the NFL level.

-= Related: Atlanta Falcons: Can Ryan-Quinn Duo Win Super Bowls? =-

While names like Raheem Morris and Kyle Shanahan may stand out as marquee hires by Quinn, we often overlook the man who actually is our new Defensive Coordinator: Richard Smith.  And it’s about time for us to learn a thing or two about one of the most important defensive minds in Flowery Branch.

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    • Smith has held a job in the National Football League every year since 1988 when he started out as Special Teams Assistant with the then Houston Oilers.  The Atlanta Falcons are the ninth NFL team Smith has worked for in his long tenure as a career NFL assistant.

    Coach Smith is best known for his time as Defensive Coordinator for the Miami Dolphins (2005) and the Houston Texans (2006-08), as well as his 8 seasons working Special Teams and Linebackers for the Denver Broncos (1993-96, 2011-14).

    It seems that Coach Smith’s specialty is in developing linebackers, having spent the last six seasons with the Carolina Panthers (2009-10) and Denver (2011-14) as strictly as linebackers coach.  Knowing the tradition of great linebacking play from both organizations, I would safely say that Richard Smith is responsible in those units success.  He coached Von Miller and DeMarcus Ware last season.

    -=Falcons All-Time Lists: Top 5 RBs =-

    Atlanta could really use Smith’s expertise in the front seven with arguably one of the weakest units up front in the NFL.  But the Falcons do have some talented young players up front including OLB Vic Beasley, DT Ra’Shede Hageman, and LB Paul Worrilow.  Hopefully under Richard Smith’s tutelage all three front seven players can have lucrative careers playing for the Atlanta Falcons.

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    If you do look at Smith’s four seasons an NFL Defensive Coordinator, very little stands out from his teams.  The only thing that looks intriguing to me is that his 2005 Miami Dolphins Defense did a solid job against the run ( 3rd in fumble recoveries and 7th in yards/average).  Then again, Miami and Houston weren’t great teams when he was on their coaching staffs.

    Though his defense this year isn’t as talented as the ones in his two most recent NFL stops (Carolina and Denver), the 2015 Atlanta Falcons have a great cast of coaches to aid in player development.  I believe that DC Richard Smith along with LB Coach Jeff Ulbrich, the Atlanta Falcons will not have the worst linebacker corps in the NFL by the end of the season.  And with the likes of Quinn and Morris to further help defensively, the 2015 Atlanta Falcons have the chance to grow into a Top 20, even Top 15 Defense by season’s end.

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